Gaming Guru

How Important Are Small Details at the Blackjack Table?

There are many small details to observe at the blackjack table, but most
players fixate on things that can't really help their game. Want an
example? The other night, three of us were sitting at the blackjack
table watching the dealer shuffle. At the completion, she called out
"rolling" to the floor and offered the six-deck pack for a cut. I sliced
it about in the middle, the dealer placed the cards in the shoe, she
"burned" the first card and waited for us to make our bets.

First base then pointed to the discard tray and said, "Can I see the
card?" "Showing the burn card", the dealer announced as she displayed
the 8 of hearts for everybody to see. First base seemed satisfied with
that and placed a $50 bet.

This is a common request at the blackjack tables, yet I doubt that any
of the requesters know what to do with that information.

Here's another typical scenario. One player has A/3 against the dealer's
8 up and the next player has 6/4. The person with the 6/4 immediately
gets a second bet ready for doubling down which is the proper play for
his hand. But first, the A/3 takes a hit which is a 10 to give him a
hard 14. With that, he takes another hit and busts with the second
straight 10. Now the player with the 6/4 reconsiders and figures that a
small card must be "due", so he just hits rather than doubles. Does he
understand what he's doing? Most likely not!

Let's discuss the value of seeing the burn card first.

Why do some players ask to see the burn card in the first place? Some
say they just want to know what their first card would've been if that
card hadn't been burned. Others say they'll bet smaller if the burn card
is a little one because the cards tend to run in streaks -- and they
figure they're more likely to be dealt a small card. Still others say
they'll bet bigger when the burn card is a little one because that
leaves more big cards in the shoe for them to receive.

The only view that makes any sense is the last one, but not enough sense
to bother with. If the burn card was a 5, then knowing that 5 couldn't
come out would reduce the house edge from 0.5% down to 0.4% on your
first hand of a six-deck shoe. But you'd still have a disadvantage, so
there's be no reason to make a bigger bet. If the burn card was an Ace,
your disadvantage would grow from 0.5% up to 0.6%. That's slightly bad,
but a whole lot more cards are about to come out and the significance of
that one burn card will quickly erode to almost nothing.

Now if there were say, eight burn cards and you could see them all, then
you might have something. If all eight were little ones (2 thru 6) you'd
actually have a 0.25% advantage on your first hand. Then you'd be right
to make a bigger bet. But fixating on one card out of a 312-card shoe is
much ado about nothing.

What about playing your hand differently because of the last couple of
cards that came out? In a shoe game there are only seven hands out of
340 which are so marginal that they might want to be played differently
because of the last few dealt cards. These are known as the Magnificent
7 Hands. The hand in the above example (10 against an 8), however, isn't
one of them. If you don't know some bona fide "advanced basic strategy,"
you'll just shoot yourself in the foot when you take it upon yourself to
adjust the play of your hands on your own accord.

And if you think that two 10s in a row means a little card is now due,
think about this. When you have 10 against an 8, there are 167 cards out
of 309 that will give you an 18 or better. If the last two hits were
both 10s, there are still 165. That's not nearly enough to make a
difference in your decision with this hand.

This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net.

Fred Renzey is a high-stakes, expert poker player. On a daily basis he faces--and beats--some of the best players in the country in fierce poker room competition. Now for the first time, Renzey offers his perceptive insights on how to play winning poker. For Fred's 13-page blackjack booklet "Ace/10 Front Count", send $9 to Fred Renzey, P.O. Box 598, Elk Grove Village, IL, 60009

Books by Fred Renzey:

Fred Renzey is a high-stakes, expert poker player. On a daily basis he faces--and beats--some of the best players in the country in fierce poker room competition. Now for the first time, Renzey offers his perceptive insights on how to play winning poker. For Fred's 13-page blackjack booklet "Ace/10 Front Count", send $9 to Fred Renzey, P.O. Box 598, Elk Grove Village, IL, 60009

Books by Fred Renzey:

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